Indy 500

The Good
Not a lot.

The Bad
Maybe it's just me, but I've never gotten a hang of the paddle controller. In most games that's a bit of a problem, in this game it will have you gritting your teeth. The graphics, while somewhat representative, are not impressive even for the Atari 2600. Sound is barely there.

The Bottom Line
Indy 500 is a top view racing game. The player attempts to control a car as it navigates a short almost circular path around the screen, accumulating a point for each lap. The game provides several tracks, the more difficult ones requiring a more circuitous path.

This game is one, for me, that depicts how much one can come to hate a game based simply on poorly designed controls. There is no real reason why this game couldn't have been one of Atari's more enjoyable games. At its base, this game is simply maneuvering a car around a slightly curvy track. However, it is nearly impossible to navigate even a single turn without straying off the track and into the slowing barrier. Once in the slowing barrier it takes seemingly ages to escape, merely to reenter the barrier a few short seconds later. Fundamentally, I think the lack of any speed control, combined with Atari's over-responsive paddle is at fault. In any event, I can't keep this game plugged in for more than a few seconds without turning purple.

The Good
It took me a while to truly appreciate the different games offered. My favorite feature was the Crash n' Score. Chasing a little square that appears at random on the tracks gave me a few moments.

The Bad
The controls take some time to master. I've spent most of the first hour off the track. It sounds bad, but my partners didn't seem to do better anyway. The turns are very sensitive and make it very difficult to do a single lap without crashing into something. That is how we discovered that the game wraps where it should not. I probably had more fun laughing at how bad drivers we were than at playing the game itself. It seems a little strange to see your car crashing on one side of the screen and reappear on the other! So let me tell you that the ice feature provided quite a challenge!

The sound is charming, that is, if you enjoy the sound of a chainsaw. I personally had to turn it off after ten minutes.

The Bottom Line
The game is hard to master and once you've got it, it doesn't take long before you get bored.